From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 3 jun 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 740, June 3rd 1998) Of course Shukan Shogi opens this week with Tanigawa's victory in the fifth game of the Meijin-sen. He has now taken a 3-2 lead with only two to play, so he is in the driving seat to defend his title. However, the differences between the players are very small, and Sato is not the type of player to give up easily. Here is game 5 with some comments: Black: Tanigawa, Meijin White: Sato, Challenger 56th Meijin-sen, Game 5, May 28th and 29th 1998 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/0 11/11 3.P2g-2f 10/10 0/11 4.G4a-3b 0/10 10/21 5.G6i-7h 4/14 0/21 6.P8d-8e 0/14 0/21 7.B8h-7g 1/15 0/21 Like in games 1 and 3, Tanigawa again plays the Kakugawari opening. Tanigawa is famous for the variety of openings he plays in title matches, but in this match his respect for the opening preparation of Sato makes him stick to his favourite opening. 8.P3c-3d 0/15 0/21 9.S7i-8h 0/15 0/21 10.S3a-4b 0/15 1/22 11.B7gx2b+ 2/17 0/22 12.G3bx2b 0/17 0/22 I have always wondered what the point of this exchange was. After all, white will move the gold back to 3b at some point, resulting in the same position if white would have played 10.Bx7g+ instead of S4b. In "Igo-Shogi Weekly" Shima, 8-dan, enlightened me. The idea is to win a move if black plays the Bogin P2f-S3h-S2g-S2f-S1e. In that case, there is no difference between the white gold on 3b and the white gold on 2b, so white has an extra move. 13.S8h-7g 0/17 0/22 14.S7a-6b 0/17 2/24 15.S3i-3h 3/20 0/24 16.P6c-6d 0/20 3/27 17.P4g-4f 7/27 0/27 18.S6b-6c 0/27 0/27 19.S3h-4g 2/29 0/27 20.G2b-3b 0/29 2/29 Only after the Bogin is no longer possible, white repairs his bad shaped by moving the gold back to 3b. We now get a position that has been played many times before. 21.K5i-6h 14/43 0/29 22.S6c-5d 0/43 12/41 23.K6h-7i 7/50 0/41 24.G6a-5b 0/50 12/53 25.P9g-9f 43/93 0/53 26.P1c-1d 0/93 19/72 27.P1g-1f 5/98 0/72 28.K5a-4a 0/98 21/93 29.G4i-5h 17/115 0/93 30.K4a-3a 0/115 12/105 31.S4g-5f 10/125 0/105 32.P4c-4d 0/125 48/153 33.P6g-6f 22/147 0/153 34.P7c-7d 0/147 26/179 35.P3g-3f 12/159 0/179 36.N8a-7c 0/159 25/204 37.P2f-2e 28/187 0/204 38.S4b-3c 0/187 4/208 39.N2i-3g 1/188 0/208 40.G5b-6c 0/188 25/233 The sealed move and the first move out of the old and famous variations. After 40.P9d, black and white would have exactly the same positions. This position is not 100% clear, but professional results seem to indicate that black, who can start the attack, has a slight advantage. Sato instead strengthens his right side of the board to make black's attack more difficult. An alternative is 40.P6e. 41.R2h-4h 82/270 0/233 Tanigawa thought long and hard about playing 41.P9e instead, but in the end decided upon the more aggresive R4h. 42.P6d-6e 0/270 51/284 43.P4f-4e 3/273 0/284 44.B*6d 0/273 25/309 45.B*2f 0/273 0/309 46.P3d-3e 0/273 10/319 47.P3fx3e 72/345 0/319 48.P6ex6f 0/345 16/335 49.P3e-3d 2/347 0/335 50.S3cx3d 0/347 52/387 51.P*3e 6/353 0/387 52.S3dx3e?! 0/353 1/388 Probably better is 52.S3d-4c Px4d S5b with the threat to play P*3f next. If black defends with 55.G4g, then N6e Sx6f P8f Px8f P*8h gives white a good attack. However, having the silver driven back to 5b is hard to play. Sato judged that the game variation was better. 53.B2fx3e 1/354 0/388 54.B6dx3g+ 0/354 0/388 55.B3ex4d 7/361 0/388 56.+B3gx4h 0/361 17/405 57.G5hx4h 0/361 0/405 58.R*3i 0/361 2/407 59.P*6i 24/385 0/407 60.P*3c 0/385 4/411 61.B*7a 25/410 0/411 Tanigawa-style attack. The theme of the game now becomes whether or not black can make his attack work or that he will run out of steam. 62.R8b-5b? 0/410 39/450 Unlucky! This move is Sato's only mistake in this game, but it is also the decisive one. The right move was 62.R8a B7ax5c+ K2b +B7a Rx7a Bx7a+ P*5e and white also has good chances to win. From now on, Tanigawa plays perfectly the rest of the way and wins the mating race by one move. 63.S*6d! 0/410 0/450 Great silver sacrifice. 64.G3b-4b 0/410 28/478 No choice: 64.Gx6d B7ax5c+ Rx5c Bx5c+ B*4b R*6a P*4a +Bx4b Gx4b Rx6d+ or 64.K2b Sx5c+ or 64.N*6g K8h and black wins. 65.S6dx6c+ 0/410 0/478 66.S5dx6c 0/410 0/478 67.G*6b 0/410 0/478 68.N*6g 0/410 3/481 69.G7hx6g! 14/424 0/481 Cool defense. 69.K8h? Rx6i+ Gx6c S*7i Gx7i Nx7i+ and white's attack is quicker. 70.P8e-8f 0/424 1/482 70.Px6g+ Sx6g and white has no continuation. 71.G6g-6h 36/460 0/482 This must have taken some deep calculation. Allowing a promoted pawn near to the king is very scary. 72.P8fx8g+ 0/460 2/484 73.G6bx6c 0/460 0/484 74.R5b-9b 0/460 11/495 75.B7ax5c+ 16/476 0/495 76.K3a-2b 0/476 15/510 77.P2e-2d 12/488 0/510 78.G4bx5c 0/488 2/512 79.B4dx5c+ 2/490 0/512 80.P*8h 0/490 12/524 The mating threat 80.R8b looks interesting, but after 81.P*8h! +Px7g Nx7g P*8g Px8g P*8f Px8f S*8g S*8h the white attack is stopped. 80.P*8h is threatening mate by Px8i+ Kx8i B*7h, but Tanigawa has calculated everything to the end. 81.P2dx2c+ 11/501 0/524 82.K2bx2c 0/501 0/524 83.N*3e 0/501 0/524 84.K2c-2d 0/501 1/525 85.P*2e 0/501 0/525 86.K2dx2e 0/501 1/526 87.P*2f 0/501 0/526 88.K2ex2f 0/501 0/526 89.N3e-2c+ 0/501 0/526 90.S*3e 0/501 1/527 91.S*1g 9/510 0/527 92.K2f-2e 0/510 0/527 93.+B5c-4c! 0/510 0/527 The deciding check. 94.P3c-3d 0/510 5/532 94.B*3d +Bx3c is also hisshi. 95.+B4c-4d! 2/512 0/532 Nice finishing touch. 96.R3i-3f+ 0/512 7/539 Sato used his time to the last second to find an escape, but there isn't one. 96.P*2f Sx2f also leads to mate. 97.+B4dx3e 1/513 0/539 98.+R3fx3e 0/513 0/539 99.G*2d 1/514 0/539 Resigns 0/514 0/539 Time: 08:34:00 08:59:00 After both 99.+Rx2d S*2f K3f G3g and 99.K3f S*3g K2g S1g-2h white is mated. A flawless game by Meijin Tanigawa, who now only needs one win out of two games to defend his title. In other Shogi news: ==================== a) Kisei Yashiki and veteran Mori have qualified for the knock-out tournament of this year's Ryu-O tournament. Mori beat Urano and Yashiki beat Moriuchi. Nine of the eleven finalists have now been decided: Habu, Minami, Yashiki, Maruyama, Mori, Goda, Suzuki Daisuke, Ono Yaichio and Kitajima. The winners of the games between Sato Yasumitsu-Takahashi and Fujii-Fukaura will complete the knock-out tournament. b) Shimizu also won the second game in her match against Ladies' Osho Saita. Saita had a good position after the opening, but overplayed her hand and was crushed quickly in a counterattack. The game took only 72 moves. Shimizu needs only one win from three games to take back the Osho title she lost to Saita last year. That's all for this week, Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Complex Game Lab Electrotechnical Laboratory 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp URL: http://www.etl.go.jp/etl/suiron/~grimberg/ Tel: +81-(0)298-54-3316 Fax: +81-(0)298-54-5918